of their pilgrimage.

It was, indeed, quite natural, on account of the stupendous work of
Michael Angelo and the unrivalled museums of the Vatican, that Rome
should have become pre-eminently the artistic centre of the nineteenth
century and should have attracted students and lovers of art from all
parts of the world. The immortal works of the two great periods, the
Greek and the Renaissance,--the art that was forever great because it
was the outgrowth of profound religious conviction,--were enshrined in
the churches and the galleries of Rome. The leading countries of Europe
sent here their aspiring students and established permanent academies
for their residence. Germany, France, and England were thus represented.
Thorwaldsen came as a pensioner from the Academy of Fine Arts in
Copenhagen; and it was during his life, and that of the noble Canova,
that Rome began to be recognized as the modern world-centre of art. Was
it not a natural sequence that the early painters and sculptors who came
to study under the stimulating influences of the great masterpieces of
the past should linger on in the city whose very air became to them the
breath of inspiring suggestion? Where but in Rome would have come to
Crawford the vision of his "Orpheus" and of his noble Beethoven? or to
Story his "Libyan Sibyl," and that exquisite group, "Into the Silent
Land"? or to Vedder his marvellous creations of "The Fates Gathering in
the Stars," the "Cumaean Sibyl," or the "Dance of the Pleiades"? to
Simmons his triumphant "Angel of the Resurrection," and "The Genius of
Progress Leading the Nations"? or to Stetson that ineffable vision of
"The Child," and that wonderful group called "Music"? whose coloring
Titian or Giorgione might well mistake for their own.

Under the Pontifical _regime_ the general character of Rome was mediaeval
and religious. The perpetual festas of the church made the streets
constantly picturesque with their processions of monks, and friars, and
priests, and these wonderful blendings of color and scenic effect
stimulated the artistic sense. The expenses of living in Rome were then
only a fraction of what the cost is at the present time; and as the city
was the resort of the wealthy and cultured few, the artists were
surrounded by the stimulus of critical appreciation and of patronage.
Their work, their dreams, were the theme of literary discussion, and
focussed the attention of the polite world. Their studios were among the